Home
by CSIFanRider
Summary: Leaving your life behind can be hard; especially for four months. Annabel had the life everyone would dream of having; a job surrounded by her friends, and the perfect guy that always stands beside her. She comes back to almost everything being the same, except the guy. He's moved on, or so he says. Her home has changed, and so has she, but will things ever be normal again? TWOSHOT


I stepped out of the airport, the smell of dirt, grime, and other unidentifiable scents hit my nose and immediately triggered memories that were buried deep in my mind. I had intentionally buried those memories as far back as I could, wanting nothing more than to forget. I'm coming home after 4 months, and I can tell you I didn't plan on ever leaving, nor did I ever plan on coming back.

I left New York cause things got too complicated for me. Plain and simple. Just disappearing one day in the middle nowhere is harder than it seems. I somehow managed to do it. Even after I left the city, I kept getting calls from everyone: Hawkes, Stella, Danny, Mac, Don, Adam, even Sid may have called me once or twice. Of course, if I was on the other side of this situation I'd probably be acting the same way they are. I remember sitting in Michigan (where I chose to go to since a family friend, Jared lives there), and just thinking about everyone there and I knew… I just had to go back.

Shaking my head, I hail and cab and get in. When the cab driver gives me the question of 'Where to?' for a minute, I didn't know because where was I going to go after I disappeared for 4 months? Then I gave him the first address that popped into my head, the crime lab where I use to work and where 2/3 of the others do as well.

As I sat in the back of the cab, my phone started going off. I looked at the caller ID and read 'Jared' so I answered it.

"I just got into New York, did you freakishly time this thing or what?"

"Maybe, maybe not.." Jared's smooth voice responds. Before I can answer, I hear a voice speak in the background.

"Jared, chi è il vostro parlare con ?" _Jared, who is it you're speaking with_? An older woman asks in… Italian? Defiantly Italian because Don, I was involved with him his family was Italian and that just led to some interesting conversations.

"Non è niente nonna , solo un vecchio amico." _It's nothing grandma, just an old friend._ Jared responded to the older woman it what I assumed to be perfect Italian.

"Certo, solo un vecchio amico. È Forse è una delle tue vecchie amiche." _Sure, just an old friend. Maybe's it's one of your old girlfriends._ The older woman responded with a chuckle before I could hear her walking off.

"Cosa devo fare con lei?" _What am I going to do with her?_ Jared muttered under his breath before snapping out of his Italian stupor.

"Who was that?" I couldn't hold back the look of confusion that began to appear on my face.

"My grandmother came from Italy for a visit and she only speaks Italian. Anyways, what are you going to do… you know once you get there? It's not you just left for a weekend and Came back, Annabel… you left for four months." His words brought a sudden realism I hadn't thought of. I was thinking the entire time that once I got there, they would just take me back and everything would go back to normal. What if they didn't take me back? What if they didn't remember me or worse want me back because they were so angry with me leaving?

"I know what your thinking Annabel, don't go to the what if's. You never know what's going to happen. What about that guy you were involved with when you left, Don is it? With the way, you talked about him to me before all of….. This, he would have to be dead not to remember you." No matter what he said, my mind was always going to rush right on to the what if's.

"Your probably right Jared," I said with the pure intent of pleasing him.

"Listen I gotta go, but you hang in there all right?"

"Hang in for what?"

"For the most nerve-wracking, yet exciting moment of your life." Then he hung up, leaving me to hang on his last word.

I spent the rest of the cab ride mulling over what he said. This happens every time he leaves a conversation with the last word. Jared is right, though, it is the absolute most nerve wrecking time of my life because I don't know what they will think of me.

My thoughts were stopped when the cab pulled to a stop. I looked outside and for sure, I'm looking at the Crime Lab in which I haven't seen since I left. The outside of the building hasn't changed much since I've seen it.

I got out the cab and grabbed my one and only bag I had with me, which was a black duffle bag. I paid the cab driver and barely missed running over my foot as he peeled away from the curb and took off down the street. Someone was in a hurry….

I cautiously started making my way towards the building, as if it may explode into a million piece at any moment. With the duffel bag in my right hand, I approached the building and opened the door with my left.

The inside of the building hasn't changed much from what I remember.

I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I started aimlessly walking towards the front. The receptionist didn't notice me because she was too busy keeping her eyes glued to the computer screen while simultaneously keeping a phone cradled between her head and her shoulder. Just as I was about to reach the desk, I heard three recognizable voices coming closer towards us; Stella, Danny, and Hawkes. Things should get interesting here….

I ended up just pacing in front of the desk, keeping my eyes focused on the ground. All I could hear are their voice getting closer, and them laughing. When I actually heard them step into the room, there's a small collective gasp. I looked up and saw them all staring at me.

"Annabel?" Hawkes asked in disbelief.

"Who else would it be?" A huge smile broke out on Danny's face as he practically ran towards me. Once he reached me, he gathered me up in a bone-crushing hug then put me back down on the floor. Well, there goes the 'they don't want me back' theory.

"What are you…. Where have….. God, we've missed you around here Annabel." Stella now had stepped forward to envelop me in a hug. She must have realized something because she let go of me faster then dropping something hot out of your hand.

"Holy shit… who's going to tell Don? He thinks she's dead for crying out, and we're standing here having a meet and greet!" Wait, he thinks I'm dead? Well isn't that just lovely…

"Why does he think I'm dead?"

"After you were gone for two months, he somehow convinced himself that you were dead. After the first month though he kept thinking you left him for another man. Again, don't ask me where he got that from." Danny answered for me before pulling out his phone.

"He is not going to believe this…" He dialed a number then brought the phone to his ear. I could hear it ring 3 times before he picked it up.

"Hey, Don… yeah, I know you're in the middle of paperwork, but you are not going to believe what just happened." There was a minute or so of Don talking before Danny spoke up again.

"Of course, I know you're going to catch hell from your supervisor… listen Don calm down for a minute will ya? Annabel's back. No, I'm not yanking your fucking chain, she's actually standing in front of me." There was a quickly rushed response on the other end.

"Told you she wasn't dead.." Danny hangs up then looks at us. "He says's there's no way that she's alive yet he insisted on coming here, does that make sense to ANYONE?!"

"It doesn't have to make sense to us, it just has to make sense to him. He just found out his girlfriend has so-called 'risen' from the dead, so to be honest, I would be having that reaction too. By the way, glad to have you back Annabel." Hawkes had said as he stepped forward to give me a hug.

"We'll all have to sit down real soon and you can tell us what all happened. But first, you have to explain it to someone else." I assume he was referring to Don so I just nodded my head. A few minutes later, Hawkes and Stella had walked away telling us that they needed to get back to work. Danny stayed with me, just exchanging small talk until we heard somebody burst through the doors. We didn't even have to guess who it was as we knew.

Danny whispered "good luck" as he walked towards the front doors of the building. For a moment, I was petrified to turn around since I hadn't seen this man in four months, but I had to get over that.

Taking a deep breath, I turned on my heels to face him. He hadn't changed, but there were things about him that had. For starters, it was like his whole body was overwhelmed with exhaustion, and I could tell that under his eyes there was a trace of dark circles left over from god knows when.

"He told you I wasn't dead." Was I could manage to say.

"Yeah, I know. It's just… I can't believe your standing in front of me when a week ago I thought you were dead." He began to step forward just like the others. He stopped directly in front of me where he lightly had grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him so he could give me a hug very similar to the one Danny had given me.

"Between you and Danny, I think I have 5 cracked ribs now." All I got in response was a kiss on top of my head. As if something went through his mind, he very quickly let go and stepped away. I looked up at him and I could tell that there was something he was not telling me. It's not that he was hiding it, but I could just tell he wasn't saying something.

Running a hand through his hair, he spoke up again.

"There's nothing I would love more then to continue where we left off, but…" Here comes the but, the one I somewhat expected yet didn't at the same time. What else should I have expected? I left him and everyone else out of the clear blue, without any notice. I would want nothing to do with me too.

"I'm with somebody else now…" Well shit, I didn't expect him to say that. I did not think that he had moved on from me. Now that I have heard that, it partially crushes me because a part of me was in love with him, and to hear that he is with someone else?

"Ohh really?" I managed to say without showing much emotion, but I couldn't help the shock that had slipped into my voice.

"Yeah… two months now." So according to Danny, he started thinking I was dead after the second month and I've been gone for four. He started going out with a girl VERY shortly after he realized I was 'dead'?

"What's her name?"

"Uhhh it's Jessandra." That's when I couldn't help but laugh lightly. Jessandra, seriously? What kind of a name is that? I looked at him after I managed to stop laughing and he had a look of confusion on his face.

"What's so funny?"

"Jessandra, really? Did you two meet in the alleyway of a strip club?" He had the look of 'Seriously?' on his face, but his eyes were telling a completely different story.

"Hilarious, Annabel. No, I met her at a…." I just couldn't stop the thoughts coming from my head to my mouth.

"Wait, let me guess. You met her on the job when you investigating an escort business!" I started laughing again when I finished that thought.

"What's with you and giving her the sluttiest job positions?"

"You honestly think Jessandra's a name everyone has? When I THINK Jessandra, jobs that are a bit… Exotic come to mind." He raised a dark eyebrow.

"Exotic?"

"Yeah Exotic, you know Strippers, Escorts, Burlesque Dancers, Hookers…." He raised a single hand up, and I could tell by just glancing at him he was getting agitated.

"Enough Annabel. Jessandra is not any one of those nor will she ever be." I could tell that things were just getting awkward so I adjusted the duffel bag to my right hand.

"Right… Anyways I've gotta get going. I'll see you around." I started walking towards the door when he called my name out. Slowly, I turned back to face him and saw that he had an emotion-free face.

"I thought you should know that….. The day you left? Well, that night…. I was planning on proposing to you. I had the ring and everything but when I got home, you weren't there…." As he had finished off that thought, his eyes drifted off towards the ground. He's not serious, is he? I opened my mouth to ask is he fucking serious when he just mumbles an 'I'll see you around' before brushing past me to walk out the front doors.

After he had left, I had taken a cab to the nearest hotel where I will be staying until something else comes my way. While I was in the cab, I had gotten a call from Mac who I assume heard from either Stella, Hawkes, or Danny that I had gotten back. He welcomed me back and immediately offered me my old job back which I thought was rather surprising because 'hey she's been gone for four months, let's give her the old job back!' I am thankful that Mac gave me my old job cause now I don't have to worry about trying to get another job.

While I was still in the cab when my cell phone started going off. The cab driver gave me a dirty look through the rear-view mirror as if me getting a phone call disrupts his job or maybe it just down right annoys him. Without glancing at the driver, I managed to pull my phone out of my pocket. I didn't look at the caller ID before answering it.

"Hello?" I said loudly, not quite sure if my end would be bad or not due to me being in the cab.

"Any particular reason why you're yelling?" I heard Don ask. Ohh Jesus…. Just what I needed right now.

"I'm in a cab right now…."

"Let me guess, cab driver's glaring at ya?" I looked up and saw he was doing that, but I didn't want to acknowledge that he was right so I just kept my mouth shut

"Figured as much, I'll just make it quick then. I'm going on my lunch break in ten minutes or so and I was kind of hoping we could talk."

"Isn't that what we did earlier?" The bitterness in my voice made itself apparent.

"That was more like me dropping everything in front of you then walking away. Where are you at?" I gave him the address of the hotel and he let out a small chuckle.

"I'll be there in 30…. And Annabel?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe… things can still work out between us." Then he hung up. What the hell was that last part about? Things can't work between us if he has moved on which I still find rather strange. He moves on right after he thinks I'm 'dead'. Most people usually take a few months if their girlfriend/boyfriend is missing and or dead, not jump immediately into another relationship. Who knows, maybe there's conditions or things that happened that I don't know about.

Just as the cab driver loses the glare on his face, my phone rings yet again and he affixes the glare back on his face.

The cab driver muttered something under his breath as I answered it again.

"Whoever it is, make it quick cause I'm pretty sure if I'm on this phone another minute, the cab driver is going to reach behind the seat and yank the phone out of my hand."

'Well, then I'll make it quick Annabel. You want to meet Jessandra?" Stella asks with a chuckle. Wait, why would she be asking me about meeting Jessandra?

"Excuse me?"

"She does show up at the crime lab, looking for you know who. He's not here so I figured, why not meet this woman who….."

"Sounds like she just came off the pole?" I just couldn't hold it in.

"Annabel, did you just call her a stripper?"

"Yep."

"To be honest, that's what I thought too when I heard but don't tell Don I said that. So are you coming or not?" Hmm talk to Don and most likely get my ass chewed out or meet the woman that he gets so defensive about? Number two is the winner…..

"I'll be there." I quickly hang up, then tell the cab driver to head on over to the crime lab, which seemed to be closer than I thought because in about 8 minutes we were there. As I pay the cab driver, I look in front of the Lab and see a decently new Mercedes parked out front. Well damn someone's living well.

I walked into the lobby and I was immediately greeted by Stella.

"I just want to warn you… be prepared."

"For what? Does she have four legs and only one arm or what?" Her response was to drag me towards the waiting area on the lobby and she stopped at the spot so we could see her, but she couldn't see us and damn… I am almost speechless.

When I laid my eyes on her, my attention was immediately drawn to her head. Her head was an unnatural shade of red and you could obviously tell it was being dyed. Then my eyes slowly started assessing the rest of her which was again obviously as fake as her hair.

"I'm not sure those are real," I whispered to her.

"What, her boobs or ass?"

"Imma go with both on this one." After a moment of silence between us, we both start cracking up slightly, but not enough to have Jessandra notice that we're there. Once we were able to stop, Stella spoke up.

"He'd kill us if he found out we're laughing at his precious girlfriend…" We both started laughing again, and after a minute, we managed to stop.

"As much as I have loved this secret meet and greet, I gotta get things sorted at the hotel." I didn't bother to stick around for her to say anything cause, to be honest, I just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

I went back to the hotel I am staying at until something better comes up. I can't tell you how many hours I have just stayed up, sitting in one of the chairs offered in the room and stared out the window. I guess my mind is fully starting to catch up with what has happened; I no longer have a permanent place to live, I no longer have somebody to go home to, and on top of that my boyfriend has moved on from me… to (no offense) A girl that looks like she's been around the block a few times. I think my mind is now seriously starting to think that this was a bad idea leaving, then coming back. Maybe when I left I should have just stayed away.

I'm jarred out of my thoughts by my phone going off on the side table near the hotel room bed. I'm somewhat cautious as I walk towards my phone, but I still don't look at the caller ID when I pick it up and answer it.

"Yeah?" I asked quietly since a part of me was still spacing out.

"What the fuck Annabel?" I heard Don's very angry voice come through the other end. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Excuse me? Would you care to explain why the hell you called me just to scream at me?"

"Jessandra told me that she saw somebody matching your description watching her and saying things about her." Really? 'matching my description' who the fuck am I a suspect?

"Really?"

"Can you be civil for 3 hours seriously?"

"Civil? Seriously? Now you're trying to control me? Besides, she's bringing it upon herself by dressing the way she is.."

"Are we really getting on this subject again? Look, SHES NOT A WHORE!" Flack suddenly declares.

"I was going along the lines of slut… but ok whatever works for you."

"Why can't you accept her Annabel? Why can't you just accept the fact that I moved on and am no longer with you?" Woah, ok. That was a below the belt move. He automatically assumes that I can't accept the fact that he moved on with someone else, which is in the ballpark but not at the same time which probably makes no sense. Should I tell him what I think? Yeah, I think I should.

"No your wrong there Don, but do you want to know what my thoughts are on this?"

"Have I ever stopped you before?" Good point.

"I don't have a problem with you moving on, I figured you would do that when I left. What I do have a problem with is HOW fast you moved. Shortly after you thought I was 'dead' you got together with her. You may say it's because you were lonely and found somebody or whatever shit you decide to come up with, but I have an idea on why you did it." I wait for a few seconds to see if I heard any protest from him, but I didn't so I continued.

"Danny told me that the first month after I left, you thought I left you for another man. Now who do you jump from that to me being dead? You don't, there's no way you can logically do that with no proof what so ever. I'm willing to bet that you realized 'I fucking screwed up and she left me'. You didn't want people thinking that you had failed in a relationship so badly that the girl left the state to get away from you. That's why I'm willing to bet you have some sort of evidence whatever the hell it may be that I was alive, but you couldn't face the fact that I could have left because of you so you got together with the lovely Jessandra." I stopped speaking and I heard nothing on his end, literally is was completely silent on his end. I wasn't quite sure if he was still alive or not when I heard a sigh come from his end.

Not wanting to have the awkward conversation that was just waiting to happen, I spoke up. "You made it clear earlier, you moved on so I'm going to let you do that." Then I promptly hung up the phone and went to bed. Instead of sleeping like I wanted to, my mind was running a mile a minute and wouldn't shut off so instead, I ended up staring up at my ceiling for hours on end.

(Don's POV)

My life has become a mess hasn't it? It's amazing really when you think about it how much one thing can change over a period of let's say….. I don't know four months. I guess it really all started when Annabel left. Life was pretty… interesting the first couple of months after she left. Like Danny had 'told' her, for a month after she left I thought she left me for another man, then it moved on to me thinking she was dead. She was mostly right you know when she was telling me the whole story on why I was with Jessandra. I did think around the second month, that shit I screwed up, I screwed up so bad that the girl left to another state. I mean that is the kind of thing you only hear of in the sappy romance movies. She started being wrong when she said that I had evidence that she was alive. Believe me, if I had evidence that Annabel was alive I would be going to wherever that evidence was at and bring her back. I also wouldn't have kept it from the rest of them since they love and missed her like crazy. I honest to god thought she was dead; she wasn't picking up her phone, her family hadn't heard from her and no one knew where she went.

What went through my mind was 'Annabel left me, never said goodbye, then died.' I felt incredibly guilty thinking that I did something that was so bad, she had left and I was never able to apologize for my mistakes or make it up to her because she had died. That was right around the time I started seeing Jessandra. It was a bad time for me, I was lonely… and she was just there. The next two months flew by in the breeze when she was around. I guess with Jessandra around, time had just passed by real quickly. Then when she came back and I knew for a fact she was standing in front of me, all these emotions just came rushing back and I guess you could say I never stopped loving her? I can't believe she's just giving up and letting me move on, it's not like her at all. The phone call from last night was definitely a wake-up call.

I've been at my desk, just letting things happen and letting my mind do what it does best. Surprisingly, today hasn't been that busy of a day or me, let alone interesting. The phone at my desk rings and I pick it up, secretly hoping that it's something that will force me to get up out of this desk.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, Don it's Stella. Listen, have you heard anything from Annabel?" For some reason, my mind automatically triggered as suspicious but I didn't think anything of it.

"Not since last night when I called her to talk about…. Something. Why, what's going on?"

"Ohh nothing we just… can't exactly locate her." Locate her? Ok, now I'm going to ask questions here.

"You can't locate her, as in you can't find her?" I sat up slightly in my desk chair.

"Pretty much. She didn't show up for work this morning. I had Adam track where she was staying thank god she paid with a credit card, anyways then Danny checked the place out and all her stuff in the room. The manager said he saw her leave in the morning at around 8, come back at around at 10 or so, then leave again." Ok, there's no need to worry. She probably just left town to and even as I'm saying it I know it's a load of bullshit. Annabel did say before she hung up last night that she was letting me move on….

"She did just come back to the state; maybe she needed to sort some things."

"Flack, she has NEVER been late to work or taken a day off without letting us know. I hardly think she decided to start today."

"Stella why the hell did you call me? It's not like I can do anything about it." I knew the minute that statement left my mouth that it sounded like an asshole thing to say. I sighed deeply as I pushed up from my chair.

"What I meant to say is, things have been about as clear as mud between us since she's been back which hasn't been long but still.."

"I just figured I'd let you know. You did care about her at one point and vice versa. Look, I'll call you when we get more info." As she hung up, I was thinking that she is gone again and this time, I'm not entirely convinced she did it 100% willingly.

(3 days later, on a subway train)

Adam Ross got onto the underground subway heading towards Manhattan. He was slightly agitated due to the fact that he was already late for work as it is and he didn't need any more delays, but there was a problem with the train he had gotten on and it wouldn't be taking off at the normal time. Thankfully, he had already called his boss Mac and told him he was having some difficulty getting to work.

He started heading towards the back of the train to find a more comfortable spot for the waiting period. He chooses a seat that was towards the back of the train and car and where no one else seemed to be sitting. Except a girl was practically curled into a ball on the window in the seat adjacent to him. As Adam has taken his seat, he looked at the girl in the adjacent seat. She was wearing a black hoodie with the hood up so it was blocking her face. He didn't anything of it but since Adam was a decent person, he leaned forward in his seat slightly and turned towards the adjacent seat girl.

"Hey, you ok over there?" The girl turned at his voice, and that's when she fully had gotten his attention. The girl was Annabel, just looked a lot more…. Worn down and beat up. Annabel had gone 'missing' a few days before and everyone at the crime lab, including Sid, have been looking for any sign of her whenever they had any sort of spare time. Don especially had been looking for her, which confuses him due to the fact that he was with someone else.

Knowing that they would want Adam to call, he picked up his cell phone and prayed to god he had enough signal to have a single conversation. Luckily, he had service so he dialed the first number that came to his head, which was Don's. Ever since Annabel has gone missing, he's been picking up his phone on the first ring, and today was no exception.

"Have anything Adam?" Don rushed the sentence out so it sounded like it came out in a jumbled mess.

"I've got something actually?" For some reason when Adam said that, it had come out more as a question than a statement like he had wanted.

"Come on Adam, we've been through this. You can't call me every time that you find someone that remotely looks like her. I'm not technically supposed to be doing this and I can lose my job, and the last thing I need to be doing is chasing dead ends."

"Don you don't understand… I have her. I am looking at her as we speak." Adam heard something that sounded like a chair fell to the floor, but he wasn't sure.

"Seriously Adam? You're not fucking with me right now are you?"

"No, I'm not but you might want to hurry your butt over here. We're on the train and it may only be stalled for a little longer."

"Well stall it for a little longer. I don't care if you have to talk to the conductor and lie through your fucking teeth, keep that train there."

"But you just told me you could lose your job…." Don had ignored Adam's comment and just demanded to know where the train was. After Adam relayed where the train was to him, he hung up in a hurry. Adam now had to come up with a way to get the train to stall even more. A smile then came upon his face as he came up with the perfect idea. It wasn't often that he got to be creative on the job.

(Annabel's POV)

I have been on the train for a while but not for the entire three days. I've gotten off the train when I've had to and when I haven't needed to get off I been on it. Simple enough, right? Wrong because everywhere I go, I have to do things that won't cause me to be tracked by Flack which is harder than it seems; paying for things in cash, making sure I don't go anywhere with a shit ton of cameras around. I know they think I'm missing, but I'm not. I just don't want to be found right now. That though is going away because Adam saw me and I'm sure as hell he called someone on the team so I won't be here much longer.

Now I'm just sitting with my legs stretched out in front of me. The train was originally not going to be leaving on time due to mechanical issues, but the conductor had just said they found some underlying issues in the train, so he had called the mechanic to get it fixed right away. He also said the police would be here shortly to keep the crowd under control cause a few of the passengers apparently started getting rowdy. I mean I didn't care; I knew my 'missing' days were soon over.

Just as I started getting too comfortable in my seat, I can slightly hear the thundering sound of footsteps coming towards the train. They're either a lot of people coming down those stairs or the stairs leading to the train is empty. Considering that this is the city of New York, I doubt it's the second option. This next part may be a bit dramatic but here comes my impending doom.

I look towards where the conductor has been standing for the past 25 minutes and the look on his face has also not changed; he seems so blasé about all this going on around him. Something's not right here…

A man a few seats in front of me shouts out "Come on, can we move this along already? Some of us on this train actually have a fucking life and have places to be." Yeah, no kidding dude. I'm with him on this. As if people were reading my mind, a few other men and woman spoke up and started agreeing with the man.

Different voices started going 'Yeah, get it moving along!', 'I like what he has to say.', and the most common one 'If this train doesn't start moving soon Imma shove my foot up your ass!' I directed my attention back to the conductor and he started to get a worried look on his face, as he knew the crowd was getting uncontrollable. There was the sound of the train door opening, but you could almost not hear it over the crowd. Most people ignored the man who came on the train and continued with their comments, but I couldn't as I knew who that man was; Don. Just as my mind processed him being on the train, the doors opened and in walked was Danny or more likely he rushed in.

In an effort to control the noise of the crowd, I saw Danny raise his fingers to his lips. The whistle that then came from his mouth was piercing through the crowd and rendered everyone silent. Well damn, way to shut down the noise.

"All right, now that we have your attention we can…." The same man that started this all interrupted Don by saying "You guys need to get the f-" All Danny had to do quietly take out his badge and hold in the air for a moment to shut the guy up.

"As I was saying, all we came to do was collect somebody off this train, then you guys can move on with your day." I didn't even have to be fully paying attention to know they were talking about me. I glanced up and saw both of them motion for me to walk towards the both of them. Knowing that there is no possible way out of this, I get up from my seat on the train. As I'm walking down the train aisle, the man from before goes "It was you? Are you kidding me?" Either Don or Danny must have looked at the guy because he went silent again. I was very quickly escorted off the train.

"What were you thinking?" Don's voice breaks the silence.

"Sound like my mother much? Besides, since when have you had a say in my well being?" I heard a snicker come from Danny's direction, then the sound of him clearing his throat.

"She's got a point, Don. Aren't you with…Jessandra?" Don snapped back to look at Danny. If looks could kill, Danny would be six feet under right about now.

"Whether I'm with someone else or not doesn't change the fact that what Annabel did was incredibly irresponsible. Not to mention reckless, disappearing for three days? What the hell?" I stopped dead in my tracks because I was not going on anywhere until I got my point across.

"Which is it? Are you care, or not? Make up your fucking mind!" The two of them both turned around in their tracks and looked at me.

"I'm sorry?" The two of them almost said in unison. I cleared my throat before continuing on.

"One minute, you're telling me you've moved on and that I should do the same, then you turn around a collect me off a train. Your behavior here is so bipolar I don't know what to believe anymore!" Don had reached his hand out, but I took several steps back to put distance between us.

"I swear to god if you touch me, I will slap you. In that case, I'll be happy to sit in jail for assault against an office." Not being able to stay in the same room as him, I start making my way out of the train station. This is why I can't be in the same room as him. What I said may have been a little overboard but it was true.

As I climbed the stairs to get out of the train station, I heard footsteps quickly approaching me from behind.

"Do you not get the fucking hint?" I practically growled out between clenched teeth.

"It's Danny, and trust me if he was following you I wouldn't let him." He fell in line beside me before speaking up again. "Want me to give you a ride to the lab?" I contemplated his offer in my head for a few seconds. Eventually, I nodded my head.

"Thank you.." All he did was smile slightly as we continued walking side by side. I swear by the end of the month, all my hair will be gray.

 _So, I didn't plan on posting this anytime in the future, but I was going through the old program on my computer I use to write on and found this! This will be two chapters, but because I want the next chapter to be about the same length as this one it will take me a few days to write it out! Also, I apologize for grammar mistakes I didn't catch. The one thing I hate about writing big things like this haha :D_

 _It feels good though to start writing Annabel, and all the New York characters again! Hope you guys like it as much as I did while writing it!_


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